Chapter 9: Rain Sound.

Daehyun woke up, feeling renewed. The bed was large and comfortable. The sheets were warm and cozy and kept him heated through the night that rained nonstop. He got out of bed and stretched his arms while walking to the big window covered by red wine curtains. He pulled the curtains aside and admired the sun coming out between the skyscrapers. He was so amazed by the view; he wanted to stay that way, observing the landscape like forever. However, his cellphone rang, knocking him off his thoughts.

    Daehyun took the phone from the nightstand, Youngjae had texted him:

    Photo shoot. Get ready. I'll come get you.

    The black-haired man dismissed the idea of spending the day looking through the window and took a quick shower. The closets and the dressers were full of amazing clothes, Himchan'd love that. On the contrary, Daehyun wasn't into clothes or fashion, so he took the first thing he saw, a light blue sweatshirt with a unicorn, farting a rainbow, and a pair of sneakers.

    The doorbell rang and Daehyun rushed to the door. He looked at the door-phone's screen to see Youngjae, standing there, playing with his cellphone, then Youngjae looked up and Daehyun freaked out, worried that Youngjae had seen him without the wig.

    “Are you in there?” Youngjae asked, behind the door.

    “I didn’t expect you so soon!”

    “I live upstairs”

    “You live…?” Daehyun shook his head; everything happened so fast “Did you see me? Did you see me on the screen?” Hell, hell, I wasn’t wearing the wig! What if he saw me as Daehyun? I’m done!

    “The video thing is off” Youngjae said “Don't tell me you aren't ready”

    “I'm almost ready” Daehyun sighed with relief and ran back into his room.

    The wig was on the floor; Daehyun grabbed it and combed it with his fingers before putting it on.

Daehyun opened the door and Youngjae looked him up and down. Youngjae wrinkled his forehead when he saw the unicorn, farting a rainbow in the sweatshirt.

    “Your assistant chose this” Daehyun said before Youngjae complained about her bad taste.

    Youngjae didn't say anything and headed for the elevator, Daehyun followed him at a distance. However, the distance was shortened once they entered the elevator; there was little space, their arms touched and their hands brushed. Youngjae's perfume was all over the place, Daehyun couldn't help inhaling the aroma. It was a mixture of fruit, flowers, vanilla, cedar, oakmoss and mint that gave Youngjae a masculine air with a hint of freshness and delicacy.

    Right at that moment, Youngjae felt Daehyun's eyes on him, he stopped playing with his phone and looked back and Daehyun looked away, scolding himself for gawking at the younger.

    And before things got embarrassing, the doors opened, showing a place full of lively plants and flowers.

    “Here's the photo shoot?” Daehyun asked, ecstatic by the view.

    He thought the view from the apartment was beautiful and perfect, but the sight before him it was way more beautiful and perfect, there were different types of flowers: jasmine, roses, irises, magnolias, peaches, lilies, etc. full of color and pleasant scents. There were also birds, fluttering their wings everywhere.

    “Here's the roof of the building” Youngjae walked to the end of the terrace where there was a table for two, overflowing with eggs, ham, bacon, mini pancakes, cookies, muffins, biscuits, bagels, donuts, waffles, cereals, marmalade, cheese, coffee, chocolate, orange juice, toasts, sandwiches, tea, etc.

    Just by looking at the food, Daehyun started to drool. It looked like a feast.

    “Let's have breakfast before we go” Youngjae took a seat and served himself coffee.

    Daehyun sat down and stacked five pancakes on top of each other. He spread butter and syrup all over the stack and added nuts, grapes, blackberries, strawberries, slices of banana, melon, chocolate chips and ice cream. In the meantime, Youngjae gazed at the sight with his mouth open.

    “Are you going to eat all that?” Youngjae asked.

    In reply, Daehyun ate all of the pancakes in big bites.

The photo shoot was at Four Seasons. Himchan waited in a room with the accessories and dresses. He was about to call Daehyun when he saw the younger, showing up with Youngjae.

    “Hi, Youngjae, what brings you here?” the stylist had never seen his friend outside the office previously.

    “I bring you Dasom” Youngjae said “I'm his manager”

    “You're the editor”

    “I can do both. Since Dasom's going to be the next cover girl, I have to take care of her and look after my interests”

    “You mean the magazine's interests” Himchan corrected him.

    “It's the same, if this goes wrong, I'll be the first to be fired”

    “Don't exaggerate” Himchan rolled his eyes “Now, Mr. Manager, get out of here, I have work to do”

    “I want to stay”

    “No way, it's just me and Dasom, you, get the hell out” Himchan pushed him out of the room and locked the door “Man, I thought he'd never leave” Himchan said, looking at Daehyun.

    “You said I misheard about Youngjae being my manager!!!” Daehyun said.

    “It's no biggie”

    “He lives on top of me!!!” Daehyun said and Himchan opened his eyes in surprise.

    “That sounded ?” Daehyun made a face “What I wanted to say is he lives upstairs from me” Daehyun blushed as Himchan stared at him blankly. (who knows what dirty things the older was thinking)  

    “Hey, listen” Daehyun snapped his fingers “Youngjae will find out the lie if he spends too much time with me!!!”

    “Take it easy. Breathe slow and easy. He won't find out, trust me, you're gonna be fine” Himchan patted him on the back “He hasn't been smart enough to discover the lie and he won't be smart overnight”

    “Fine, ok, whatever” Daehyun took a deep breath “What will we do today?”

    “The photo shoot is here, Four Seasons. It’s about brides and weddings, so you'll be wearing a lot of wedding dresses”

    “I'll have to use hanbok?”

    “No, the concept is western weddings” Himchan said “But now that you mention it, you'd look great in a hanbok”

The photo shoot was divided into two parts. The first part was Dasom, posing in different wedding dresses and the second part was photos with Zelo acting like a couple as they did at Lotte World, holding hands and cuddling in romantic settings. However, Hyoseong saved the best for last. She chose the terrace for the final shoot; dozens of chairs and an altar decorated with balloons and pink roses.

    Zelo and Dasom took a break while the staff finalized the details, there was nothing to do though, except walk up and down.

    Daehyun admired the terrace; it was gorgeous, but no more than the one he spent breakfast with Youngjae. Daehyun made a face, he didn’t know why he thought about Youngjae, then he looked around to find him. Youngjae was checking his cellphone in a corner, Daehyun wanted to snatch his phone and see what was so interesting. He must be texting his girlfriend… He has a girlfriend… Daehyun sighed, annoyed with himself, it shouldn’t mind whether the of Youngjae had girlfriend or not. 

    “Noona, you look stunning” Zelo approached her.

    Daehyun blushed, that was the thousandth time Zelo said she was stunning. Daehyun thought Zelo was stunning too; the younger was tall and hot, cute and spirited. Zelo always had a smile on his face; he always joked around and did stunts. He even did a cartwheel to impress Dasom and indeed he did.

    “Are you cold?” Zelo put his hands on Daehyun's shoulders caringly “It's gonna rain” he looked up, the sky was dusty blue and the clouds were more gray than white.

    Not too far, Hyoseong was getting her camera ready while Jongup adjusted the lighting. They both saw Zelo, holding Dasom like he was going to kiss her on the forehead at any time. The main photographer said: 

    “They look so good together”

    “They do” Jongup said, jealous.

    Hyoseong proceeded in their direction and said:

    “Since this is a groom-bride shoot, why don't you kiss?”

    “It's a great idea, noona” Zelo said.

    “What do you mean by kiss?” Daehyun covered his mouth with both hands.

    “I mean you two kiss each other like couples do. The concept is wedding, romance and love after all”

    “I don't think so” Daehyun shook his head ferociously.

    “It's not even a real kiss, just a peck on the lips” Hyoseong said.

    “No way, never, I'll never do that, over my dead body” Daehyun said.

    “Dasom noona, am I really that disgusting?” Zelo said.

    “On the contrary, you're hot, but I'm not kissing anybody and less a guy!!!” Daehyun said as the others looked at him questionably “And less a guy I don't know... I wouldn't have any problem kissing a guy I know... You know... I’ve kissed many guys”

    “What's going on?” Youngjae showed up as he saw them arguing.

    “I was telling Zelo and Dasom that they should kiss, since this is a photo shoot about love and blah, blah” Hyoseong said.

    “What do you mean by kiss?” Youngjae frowned.

    “A kiss! Don’t you know what a kiss is?” Hyoseong said.

    “This is a fashion magazine, not an one” Youngjae said “Nobody’s going to kiss anybody”

    “What's wrong with both of you?” Hyoseong asked Dasom then Youngjae “It's just a kiss!”

    “Noona, it's ok if there's no kiss” Jongup said.

    “You too? But there's nothing more romantic than a kiss!”

    “I could carry Dasom noona in my arms” Zelo said “It's romantic”

    “I guess I have to settle for that” Hyoseong gave the kiss up and accepted the bridal carry.

Daehyun, aka Dasom, roamed around the hallway, looking for Himchan. He needed the stylist to help him undress, but he couldn't find him anywhere. Daehyun stopped in the middle of the hallway, tired, he wore a big wedding dress, ball gown style to be exact. The dress train was a mile long, the heels were very high, the tiara was heavy, the veil was cathedral style, it was longer than the dress train. Even if Daehyun lifted the dress from the floor, he kept stepping on it and tripping at every step.

    A crowd suddenly appeared in the hallway, most of them carried cameras and mikes. Daehyun gave it no mind, he continued on his way, but he stopped, puzzled, as those strangers ran towards him, and before he could react, he was surrounded by them.

    “How was the photo shoot?”

    “Have you done modeling before?”

    “Where are you from?”

    “Do you have boyfriend?”

    “How many models you competed against to land this job?”

    “What's your favorite look?”

    There were so many questions that Daehyun didn't understand anything, he felt suffocated and overwhelmed, the crowd moved towards him like hyenas and the only thing he could do was to step back.

    “How did you become a model for Ego?”

    “Who's your ideal type?”

    “Would you date an idol?”

    “What's your favorite brand?”

    “Did you get lip injections?”

    Everybody started taking pics, the flashes blinded Daehyun. He shrunk and shut his eyes while they kept throwing questions.

    “Hey, stop it!” someone barked madly at the crowd. It was Youngjae, Daehyun recognized his voice, then he opened his eyes and looked up, Youngjae was standing in the middle in a protective way.

    “You're Yoo Youngjae?”

    “What is the editor-in-chief doing here?”

    “Did you come here with anybody?”

    “Are you on a date?”

    “It's none of your business” Youngjae waved his hands, making the crowd back off.

    “What do you think about fashion blogs taking over fashion magazines?”

    “Why do you think that Ego sales have dropped?” a woman moved the mike closer while her partner took pics.

    Youngjae grabbed the camera from that man and threw it across the corridor; however, the man had another camera. Youngjae lost his and turned around to face Daehyun.

    “Run” Youngjae said.

    “What?” Daehyun was still confused; the younger took his hand and ran. The mob ran after them while asking questions and taking pics.

    The hallway seemed endless; however, they reached a door that said exit. Youngjae pushed the door and got out with Daehyun. They ended up in a small alley with dumpsters everywhere. The alley reminded Daehyun of the criminals he bumped into days ago.

    “Are you ok?” Youngjae said.

    “Yeah. Who were those people?”

    “Paparazzi and fans”

    “Paparazzi? Fans?”

    “I know, I’m in shock too, someone like you having fans”

    “I didn't ask for that” Daehyun said “What do we do now?”

    “We'll be here until it calms down”

    Daehyun didn’t like the idea. The alley was icy and it was going to rain at any moment. He shivered with cold, the dress sleeves were made of lace; that thin fabric didn’t heat him up sufficiently.

    “You know, in doramas the leading actor always gives his jacket to the girl when she’s standing in the cold”

    “Nice try, but I'm not the leading actor from a dorama and I don’t like you”

    “I didn’t say you like me”

    “The main character only gives his jacket to the girl he likes”

    “Then keep your jacket, I don’t want you to like me because I don't like you”

    “Fine, I'm keeping it”

    “Fine”

    “Fine”

    They ran out of things to say and fell silent and waited for things to calm down. None had a watch, but it felt like forever, Daehyun thought that was already safe to go back inside, he went to the door and before he opened it, the door was burst wide open and a man emerged, screaming:

    “Hey! I found them!!!”

    A wave of people showed up in two shakes of a lamb's tail.

    “Don't you people have a life?!” Youngjae yelled, exasperated, and took Daehyun’s hand again and started running.

   They ran through the streets, the fans and the paparazzi ran madly behind them. The rain that threatened to fall since morning, finally did it. The more it rained the less people were chasing them, so Youngjae and Daehyun slowed down, however, now it was the rain that chased them down. It rained so hard that appeared to be a storm.

    “Where are we?” Youngjae asked, rambling on the unfamiliar street. There were many houses and closed shops.

    “I don’t know, you're the one who dragged me here”

    “I was saving you, so thank me” Youngjae said “Now we have to find a place to wait for the rain to pass”

    Daehyun saw a coffee house, open, ahead of them.

    “We can go there” Youngjae saw the coffee house as well and started walking.

    Daehyun followed him at a snail's pace, his feet hurt like hell after running in high heels.

    “Can't you walk a bit faster?” Youngjae demanded as the rain poured violently.

    “I can't” Daehyun pointed at the heels.

    Youngjae sighed and placed one arm around Daehyun’s back and the other arm around the bend in his knees.

    “What are you doing?” Daehyun tried to back away, but Youngjae seized him with resolution and lifted him bridal style.

    It was the second time that day that someone carried him in their arms. First it was Zelo, now, Youngjae. It was too embarrassing for Daehyun, so he moved side from side, trying to get out of Youngjae’s grip.

    “Stop moving or I'll drop you”

    “Don’t you dare!!!” Daehyun got scared out of his mind by the mere sight of falling to the ground made of concrete.

    “You're choking me!!!” Youngjae said as Daehyun grabbed him by the neck with all his might.

    “I'll do more than that if you drop me!!!”

"You weigh too much; you shouldn't have eaten all those pancakes, seriously, nine pancakes!!!" Youngjae put Daehyun down carefully.

    "Nine pancakes doesn’t mean I eat a lot. They were mini pancakes, mini!" Daehyun took the veil off and tossed it to Youngjae.

    "Don't throw this, you know how expensive is?" Youngjae caught the veil.

    "You know how hard is to carry that everywhere?" Daehyun also took the tiara off and threw it against the younger.

    "Well, since these are wet from the rain, I don’t think it’s worth much" Youngjae shrugged as he stared at Daehyun.

    Her perfect updo was a mess; locks of hair covered her face. Daehyun ignored what was going on and sat at the table. Youngjae did the same and left the tiara and the veil on the table, then he took a paper napkin and dried his face, although it was pointless, he was soaked from head to toe. Youngjae took another napkin and approached Daehyun’s face to wipe the raindrops. His fingers brushed Daehyun’s cheek, it was cold, and he felt like holding her to warm her up.

    "You know the thing under my eye is a mole, right?" Daehyun said as Youngjae touched his face nonstop.

    "I know" Youngjae pulled his hand away. He knew Dasom had a beauty mark under her left eye since the very first day they met, even if she was the ugliest girl at the party, Youngjae couldn't help noticing her, after all, she came like a wrecking ball into his back.

    "I’m thinking about the day we met" Youngjae said.

    "How come?" Daehyun asked, curious.

    "I can’t believe, you ugly girl has become this beautiful"

    "You just called me beautiful?"

    Youngjae froze, he said that without thinking, Daehyun looked him straight in the eye, waiting for an answer, then a woman showed up and said:

    "Welcome to Albatross, today's special is cheesecake and strawberry milkshake"

    "Just bring me a coffee" Youngjae felt relieved for being saved by the bell.

    "I want the cake and the milkshake” Daehyun said.

    "A slice or the whole cake?"

    Of course a slice of cake, Youngjae was going to say, but Daehyun cut him off.

    "Of course the whole cake"

    "As you order" the waitress left for the counter and later she came back with a coffee for Youngjae and a whole cheesecake and milkshake for Daehyun.

    "You aren't going to eat the entire cake, right?" Youngjae said.

    "Wanna bet?"

    "Nope. I’d lose" Youngjae drank his coffee “I’ve seen you eat nine pancakes, I know you’re able to eat a whole cake”

    "I'm hungry" Daehyun served himself a big piece of cake.

    "After eating nine pancakes?"

    "They were mini pancakes, mini"

    “If you say so, I know what I saw” Youngjae took a fork, the waitress had brought two forks and two plates, and set out to cut a slice of cake.

    "What do you think you're doing?" Daehyun took the cake away from the other.

    "Having a slab of cake"

    "It's mine, if you want cake, go get yours"

    "I'm not going to order another cake. Unlike you, I can’t eat a whole cake alone"

    "You can order a slice, you know"

    "I hope you have a stomachache” Youngjae said as he watched her eat.

"You're really into cheesecake, aren't you?" Youngjae said after Daehyun got hold of four pieces of cake.

    "They're my favorite"

    "I know"

    Daehyun remembered that night Youngjae showed up at the newspaper with food for Dasom.

    "I know you know. Thank you for bringing me the cheesecake and the ramyeon the other day"

    "Did you get that? You weren’t there, just that weirdo that hit me with the mop"

    "You remember that"

    "It's hard to forget someone who smashed a mop into your face"

    “I guess you deserved it, you threw the food to the garbage. You shouldn’t play with food”

    "You weren’t there” Youngjae shrugged “I just wish I could’ve taken a better look to that guy, the one who beat me, he looked familiar"

    Daehyun spit out the milkshake.

    “I told you not to eat so much!” Youngjae offered a napkin to Daehyun.

    “It’s not that. I’m fine, I’m fine, just stay away, I don’t like people invading my personal space”

    “The weirdo, that beat me, said the same thing”

    Daehyun thought he’d faint; Youngjae seemed to get closer to the truth. He had to do something! But there was no mop in sight to knock him out!

    “Hey, are you ok?” Youngjae said.

    Daehyun looked at the cheesecake, for a moment, he thought of throwing the cake at Youngjae, but he thought twice and instead he served a piece for Youngjae.

    “Here, you can have cake after all” Daehyun gave him the plate.

    “Thank you?” 

    “You’re welcome” Daehyun needed to talk about anything with Youngjae and make him forget the infamous guy that hit him “Hmm, since you know what my favorite dish is, what’s yours?”

    "Meat"

    "Meat?"

    "Beef, pork, chicken, fish..."

    "I see..." Daehyun didn’t know what else to say. Rich boy, poor boy, they had nothing in common. But above all, he wasn’t even Daehyun, right now he was Dasom and Dasom had nothing to say either.

    "How was your first night at the apartment?" Youngjae continued the conversation awkwardly.

    "I never had slept that good”

    "Glad to hear it"

    "Why are you suddenly nice to me?"

    "I'm a nice guy"

    "You’re mean. You’ve done nothing but call me ugly, monster, horrible…”

    "I'm not mean, I'm honest"

    “I don’t get you, one day you’re kind and then you’re despicable”

    "The thing is we got started on the wrong foot" Youngjae said "When I was younger, I was overweight and everybody harassed me because of that. My only friend was Himchan, because he was fat too and everybody bullied us, so I grew up telling myself I'd never be bullied again"

    "So you became a bully?"

    "I'm not as bad as you think"

    Why did he tell me that? Are we connecting? Why are we connecting? After showing me his nice side, he’s showing me his vulnerable side. Maybe I broke him with the mop… Do I have to tell him something personal back? What can I say about me? Hey, dude, I'm not a girl, I just pass as one because I need money. I lost my parents at young age, I've lived with my relatives since then, I'm in love with a girl that will marry someone else, I'm scared because I don’t know what I'll do once the month comes to its end, I can’t pretend I'm Dasom forever...

    "What are you thinking?"

    "Nothing” Daehyun startled “I just imagined what you were like"

    "I was like the most hideous thing ever, fat as a cow. Braces and glasses. Acne all over my face, the typical loser. Nobody wanted to be my friend; I don’t blame them, who’d be friends with porky?"

    "Me” Daehyun interrupted him rudely “I would have been your friend”